Service dogs are out and about in the community, opening doors for individuals with disabilities, including “invisible” disabilities like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Therapy dogs and their owner-handlers are trained to help third parties. How are these animals trained? Where are they allowed to go? Last week’s article covered assistance animals, with a focus on service dogs. This week, we take a look at therapy dogs.

Unlike service animals and emotional support animals (ESAs), therapy dogs and their owner-handlers have been trained to provide nonspecific psychological or physiological therapy to third parties. Because a therapy dog doesn’t perform specific tasks to alleviate its owner-handler’s disability, its owner-handler does not have the right to bring it into all public accommodations.

“Service dogs are performing medical tasks for their handlers,” Monica Callahan of the Alliance of Therapy Dogs explains. Therapy dog teams, on the other hand, “have to be invited in by the facility.”

The training and testing of therapy dogs, therefore, focuses on appropriate behavior around people and other dogs. The dogs need to “focus on the people and the job they’re doing,” Callahan says, “and understand that it’s not playtime.” When therapy dogs and service dogs are present in the same location, like an airport, “Our dogs need to be able to not distract them. They’re both working dogs, but they’re working differently.”

Rigorous testing

program

The ATD is a Wyoming-based nonprofit organization that provides testing, certification, registration, and support for members and their dogs. Prospective human members must undergo a background check, provide veterinary documentation for their animals, be tested as a team, complete a formal application and pay membership fees.

Testing includes three to four sessions in which a Tester/Observer accompanies a human-dog team on therapy visits, two of which must be to medical facilities. At the successful completion of testing, certification is recommended for the pair. ATD membership has an initial fee of $20 and an annual fee of $35 and includes insurance coverage for volunteer teams for incidents that could occur during the course of their volunteer work. Callahan gives a hypothetical example of tripping on a leash and notes that rules must be followed: “Handlers need to recognize that their insurance will not be in play if the dogs are interacting with other animals” on therapy visits.

Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs is a local volunteer group of therapy dog teams offering their services on a temporary basis to those in need, free of charge. All teams are certified by and registered with ATD. All LVTD members are required to donate their services at least once per quarter; LVTD teams have been part of “Read to Dogs” programs at local libraries, as well as making weekly visits to local nursing homes.

Barb Ryan is a veteran member of LVTD, currently volunteering with her border terrier, Abby, who was certified in 2015 by ATD. A retired teacher, Ryan began volunteering with Abby’s predecessor in first-grade classrooms in Bethlehem. “The idea,” she explains, “is that this is nonthreatening for kids who might be hesitant to read in front of peers. Dogs aren’t going to judge them. And it’s fun.” She shares a story about a child on the autism spectrum who immediately began speaking to Ryan’s dog, despite rarely speaking in class. Ryan and Abby volunteer regularly at Read to Dogs programs at the Bethlehem Area Public Library.

LVTD members and their dogs adhere to ATD rules when on therapy visits. “You’re not allowed to have them within six feet of each other,” Ryan explains, adding that owner-handlers are required to take a book test every year to maintain their team certification. “The dogs themselves are supposed to be on no more than a four-foot lead, and even if they’re friends, you’re not supposed to allow them to interact with each other” when they are on duty.

Therapy dogs in schools, libraries and airports

Therapy dogs can have a significant effect on humans. ATD’s website cites “bringing joy and laughter, even if for a short time” and “taking a person’s mind off personal problems, aches and pains” as just some of the benefits of therapy dog interactions.

As covered recently in the Catasauqua Press, the Catasauqua Area SD has a nascent therapy dog program utilizing the skills of Lucy, the golden retriever of K–12 Career Connections Coordinator Kim Flueso. Kim and Lucy were tested and certified by the ATD. Two skills that Lucy had to demonstrate to pass the test are being around other dogs without reacting to or engaging with them and not picking up or trying to eat objects on the ground.

Because much of the work of therapy dogs is done in medical facilities, where ingesting dropped medication could be a risk, not eating from the ground is a crucial therapy dog skill. In Lucy’s case, her robust training means that she won’t eat a treat that has fallen – someone must pick it up and offer it to her again.

Lucy identified herself as a potential therapy dog, Flueso says, by accurately gauging the fragility of Flueso’s elderly grandmother. Although Lucy enjoys cuddles, she knew without being told that she should respect the near-centenarian’s space. With students experiencing trauma, she is available for as much hands-on comforting as is needed.

“We like to bring her in for crisis control moments,” Flueso explains. “If there are kiddos who are crying in the counseling office, we bring her in. When individual kids have a divorce or a death in the family, Lucy is available to help them. They can just take a minute and reset.”

Georgia Giannaras, a University of Pennsylvania veterinary student, has a 4-year-old yellow Lab named Sami. Bred through the Guide Dog Foundation, Sami anticipated a career helping an individual with a visual impairment, and Georgia worked with her for most of the first two years of her life to train her.

“I had to teach her very specific commands in a very specific order,” Georgia explains. “She learned 30-something commands under me, and was going to go in for formal training, tailored to a specific person.” However, Sami was diagnosed with allergies and related health issues, so the Guide Dog Foundation released her on medical grounds, and Georgia adopted her.

After becoming certified by ATD, Georgia and Sami volunteered at St. Luke’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Ronald McDonald House associated with CHOP, and at “de-stressing” event for undergrads at UPenn. Remembering her own younger days reading to dogs at BAPL, Georgia was delighted to volunteer with Sami for the program.

Monica Callahan, who does outreach work for ATD, is an owner-handler of a windsprite and a dalmatian. The windsprite prefers volunteering at library literacy events, but the active dalmatian is perfectly suited to airport work – work that is sometimes extremely poignant.

“A lot of people [at airports] are stressed out because they just missed a flight, and others are terrified because they’re flying for the first time,” Callahan relates. “Someone once sobbed on my dog for five minutes, then got up and walked away, and then later posted on my Instagram that it was the last time they saw their dad.”

More information is available online for Alliance of Therapy Dogs (therapydogs.com/alliance-therapy-dogs/) and Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs (lvtherapydogs.org). Please note that ATD and LVTD are just two of many dog-related nonprofit organizations; this article is a feature, rather than an exhaustive inquiry into the manifold groups sponsoring animals doing good in their communities.